March Newsletter

March Newsletter

March began with our move to our new house in Ataco.  It is really new and we are the first people to live in it.  After some adjustments on the garage entry so we could get the car off the street at night it has turned out good and we like it here.  At night it is much quieter than the other house because it is in a less busy corner of town.  Everything works great and we are very thankful and pleased.  Our first day and night were wild because the school (polling place) is across from us and everyone in town passed by our door the first day we were here and then there was rallying in the street until 2am Monday but pretty quiet after that.  I got to lead my first home Bible studies with no translator and that went pretty well.  We were told that the brothers and sisters here have been very happy with our Spanish though we certainly have a long way to go.  I as well as several people in our family turned a year older in March.  It was pretty funny we had several people over for lunch but they did not know it was my birthday until they got here. 

For me, this month has really been a time for building friendships, getting to know the body and sharing God’s word.  I have been going to the ladies class on Saturday’s and got to teach my first class as well.  The ladies decided to alternate their focus, so one week we have a class and the next week we go out visiting.  The visiting is heart moving.  It includes families that are not coming regularly, relatives of members, one who had lost their home in a fire and people who are not Christians.  We all go out with a prepared devotional, but often what we prepared changes as we see the needs of the people.  Similarly,   I continued meeting with the teen girls after service on Sundays in Shucutitan.  I always bring some lunch and Bessy, our sister here that helps us with our studies, prepares a devo.  Afterwards we go visiting.  From one of their visits, a lady came to church and Dwaine and I were able to set up a study with her.  She has a great grasp of the scriptures, but has said she doesn’t want to make a decision to follow Christ at this time.  We are all praying for this lady, Rosaria.  The teen girls asked me to host a spend-the-night for them in April.  I agreed, but interestingly, they asked if I would then take them to the pool in Ataco.  I asked if we would get any sleep during the night and they all said ‘no.’  So, I said, I just couldn’t stay up all night and then take them swimming.  I think my age is telling on that one.  It will just have to be two separate eventsJ.

Our two really big events in March were the baptism of our new sister Reina whom we had been studying with once or twice each week since we got here and the decision was made that we would be working with the new church planting in Juayua.  This is a town of about 25,000 that is about a 20 minute drive from Ataco.  There are a few Christians there from a work that had been started and then left off about 15 years ago.  Several of the brothers here were going there, visiting people, having studies on Wednesdays and then having an evening church service at a family’s home on Sunday nights.  We will be working with Cesar and Eliza Melgar.  Cesar is a young preacher who is really devoted to the Lord but did not have a work he was currently involved in so he has agreed to be the main preacher in Juayua.  He and Eliza along with their 7 month old daughter, Abby, moved to Juayua last week so we will begin going there several days a week in April.  We will probably move there later, but for now we will commute from Ataco.